Compulsory Education and the 
Southern States 



By 
GEORGE F. MILTON 

Editor of The TCnox-ville Sentinel 




Reprinted from The Sewanee Review 
for January, 1 908 



Compulsory Education and the 
Southern States 



By 
GEORGE F. MILTON 

w 
Editor of The Knoxwlle Sentinel 




Reprinted from The Sewanee Review 
for January, 1908 



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Author 

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Compulsory Education and the 
Southern States* 

Even in a cursory examination of the subject it will be neces- 
sary to sketch the experiences of European countries and Amer- 
ican States. Statistics will necessarily occupy a prominent 
place in such a sketch, as these are essential to an intelligent 
understanding of this important educational question. These 
may appear prolix, yet they are the meat of the subject. 

First, as to European countries : The Germans were the earli- 
est to institute a system of general education, and the wonder- 
ful progress of Germany in every respect is now largely attributed 
to the thoroughness of national education. Especially in the last 
twenty years has the aspect of the nation been greatly changed. 
Some attribute this to the large number of special technical 
schools, which are also undoubtedly potent factors, but some 
more organic reason in the national life must be discovered. 
The English consul, Mr. Powell, in an interesting report on 
these conditions, says that this (commercial and industrial) suc- 
cess is due less to superior commercial education than to the 
high state of general education that Germany has enjoyed for 
many years, which was formerly lacking, and is even now lack- 
ing in several essential points in Great Britain. 

The fact that in Germany elementary education has been gen- 
erally compulsory and, to a large extent, also gratuitous, for more 
than one hundred and fifty years, is recognized to be an essential 
element in recent political, industrial and commercial successes 
of the nation. Nothing short of a general uplifting of the mass 
of the people will raise a nation to a higher level in all respects. 
In England and in the United States, until the middle of the 
nineteenth century, compulsory school attendance was justly con- 
sidered an infringement of civil liberty, and this view prevented 
the passage and successful execution of such compulsory school 

* This paper was read before the Irving Club, Knoxville, Tennessee. 



4 Compulsory Education and the Southern States 

laws. In Germany, since Luther, the fact has frequently been 
dwelt upon that parents are not always the most pious, conscien- 
tious and far-sighted educators. 

In the beginning, compulsory education is always felt to be 
severe, and meets with energetic contradiction and opposition. 
In the course of time, however, the masses become reconciled, 
and the law enforcing regular school attendance in elementary 
schools is recognized as a protection ; yet its suspension would 
be followed by a noticeable falling off of attendance in the most 
advanced States. Various German States — Hesse, Wiirttem- 
berg, Gotha, and others — had qualified educational laws in the 
seventeenth century. But education did not become truly com- 
pulsory in the Kingdom of Prussia until the decree of Frederick 
William I, September 28th, 1717. This memorable decree re- 
quired that wherever schools existed, parents, under penalty of 
the laws, were obliged to send their children to school, paying 
a tuition fee of six pence a week for each child. Frederick 
the Great, in 1763, defined the provisions with greater exact- 
ness. By a cabinet order of King Frederick William III, in 
1825, compulsory education was extended to all parts of 
the kingdom, this being the basis of the present State law of 
Prussia, and other parts of the German Empire have similar 
statutes. 

In practice, the child between six and fourteen is required to 
attend school. The number of children between six and four- 
teen years of age in school has increased from 12.2 per cent of 
the total population in 1822 to 17 per cent in 1895. The chief 
gain has been in bringing the proportion of girls up to that of 
boys. In the United States, the tendency is now the reverse, 
the girls getting the greater advantages of the schools. 

It may be of interest to note the provisions of other European 
countries as to compulsory education. In the Austrian crown 
lands, the period during which school attendance is compulsory 
is from six to eight years. In Hungary, from six to twelve. 
In Sweden, from nine to fifteen. In Norway, from ten to four- 
teen. In Denmark, from seven to fourteen. In England, by 
the law of 1870, local school boards are left to pass special ordi- 
nances introducing compulsory attendance. These regulations, 



Compulsory Education and the Southern States 5 

together with the factory laws of 1878, which require all chil- 
dren working in the factories to attend school at least five times 
a week until their thirteenth year, have made instruction vir- 
tually general and compulsory. The Netherlands have no com- 
pulsory law, but boards of teachers and college directors are 
supposed to establish a regular attendance of children from six 
to twelve years of age by means of exhortations, circulation of 
roll calls and indirect compulsory measures, such as the with- 
drawal of public support. In Belgium no compulsory education 
exists. France has, since 1882, required attendance from six 
to thirteen. In Italy, from six to ten. Russia has no compul- 
sory education law. While in Germany, the percentage of 
elementary pupils in attendance, to all population, is about 17, in 
Belgium, it is 11. 10; Denmark, 12.87; France, 14.47; Greece, 
6.19; Great Britain and Ireland, 15.45; Italy, 8.14; Netherlands, 
14.25; Austria, 13.40; Hungary, 12.59; Bosnia, 2.70; Portugal, 
4.60; Roumania, 4.41 ; Russia-in-Europe, 1.03; Finland, 18.29; 
Sweden, 16.37; Norway, 17.02; Switzerland, 15.73; Servia, 
3.38; and Spain, 10.95. 

As an example of what is being done for education in Europe, 
the Kingdom of Prussia alone may be cited. In addition to the 
elementary schools, there are about twelve general continuation 
schools, with 8,718 pupils; 1,320 industrial continuation schools, 
with 145,672 pupils; 97 trade schools, with 8,625 pupils; 217 
commercial schools, with 17,029 pupils; 1,193 agricultural 
schools, with 23,831 pupils; a total of 2,989 continuation and 
technical schools, with 219,490 pupils. The German believes in 
education. As showing the thoroughness and zeal with which 
the government supplies the means of technical training in the 
various industries of the country, it is stated that if any paper, 
dealing, for example, with some department of the textile indus- 
try, is read before any foreign society and is published or appears 
in any journal, the communication is immediately translated and 
circulated throughout the textile schools of Prussia, with direc- 
tions to have it dealt with as a lecture to students, and if models, 
illustrations or lantern slides are required by way of illustration, 
they are prepared and sent with the paper. The German is sur- 
veying the world for ideas. 



6 Comp?ilsory Education and the Southern States 

As showing the relation of the compulsory school system in 
Germany and other European States to illiteracy, the following 
statistics of adults are suggestive: German Empire, .05 percent 
are illiterate; Denmark, .02; Finland, .49; Switzerland, .13; 
Scotland, 2.46; Netherlands, 2.30; England, 3.00; France, 4.70; 
Belgium (not compulsory), 10.10; Austria, 35.60; Ireland, 7.90; 
Hungary, 47.80; Greece, 30.00; Italy, 32.99; Portugal, 79.20; 
Spain, 68.10; Russia, 61.70; Servia, 79.30; Roumania, 88.40. 
Our immigration is now principally from Italy, Hungary and 
Russia. 

France offers a good illustration of the rapidity with which 
illiteracy may be reduced as a result of good attendance laws. 
In 1854, no less than 42.5 per cent of the French people were 
illiterate. In 1870, at the end of the Empire, 31 per cent were 
illiterate, and in 1880 the condition was very little improved. 
In 1882, the compulsory education act went into effect and as a 
result, in 1900, the illiteracy had been reduced to 6 per cent — 
only one-fifth of what it was eighteen years before. 

Now, let us see what has been done in our own country, 
and especially in the Southern States. The conditions in Amer- 
ica have been entirely different from those in Europe. The 
work of popular education is not now, nor likely ever will be, 
either directly in the hands of the general government or under 
its close control. The right of State authorities to require 
the attendance of all children at school was asserted early in 
the Colonies. Connecticut may claim to have been one of the 
first States in the world that established the principle. Its code 
of laws adopted in 1650 contained stringent provisions for com- 
pulsory attendance upon schools. In 1810, with the changed 
conditions resulting from immigration, it was found impos- 
sible to enforce the law without important additions, amount- 
ing in reality to a set of factory laws, forbidding the employ- 
ment of children under fourteen years of age who have not 
attended school for at least three months in the year. As early 
as 1642, Massachusetts enjoined the selectmen of every town 
to see that all parents or guardians or masters taught their chil- 
dren, wards or apprentices so much learning as would enable 
them to read the English tongue and the capital laws, upon pen- 



Compulsory Education and the Southern States 7 

alty of twenty shillings for each neglect thereof. A factory law 
similar to that of Connecticut was passed in 1834. Compulsory 
education must be accompanied by child labor laws to make it 
successful. All the States and Territories of the United States 
now have compulsory education in effect except the following: 
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mis- 
sissippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, 
and Virginia. The percentages of illiteracy in these States are 
the greatest of any in the United States. 

As has been seen, compulsory educational laws have not been 
adopted in any of the Southern States except Kentucky and Mis- 
souri. Three counties in Tennessee, through legislative enact- 
ment, have such laws, but no fair test has yet been given. In 
Asheville, North Carolina, by popular vote an ordinance was 
adopted requiring compulsory education. That State has a local 
option law for cities as to compulsory education. In the South, 
great progress has been made in public education, especially dur- 
ing the past twenty years, despite the fact that this section re- 
mains, of all the Union, the only section where attendance on 
public schools between the ages of six and fourteen for a consider- 
able period each year is not compulsory. But how necessary is an 
even greater effort to secure universal elementary education in 
the South is shown in the fact that in 1900, 27.9 per cent of all the 
illiterate white voters in the United States were in the South, 
while only 14.9 per cent of the white voters of the country were 
found here. In other words, we had nearly twice the illiterate 
population among the whites of voting age that our proportion of 
population justified. Of the total negro male population, 76.2 
per cent lives in the South, and 85.5 per cent of the illiterate 
negroes of voting age live here. 

I have no disposition to minimize the progress made in the 
South in reducing illiteracy. The record, in fact, is encour- 
aging. In the South Atlantic Division the percentages were 46.2 
in 1870, 40.3 in 1880, 30.9 in 1890, and 23.9 in 1900. In the 
South Central Division for the same years the percentages of 
illiteracy were 44.5 in 1870, 39.5 for 1880, 29.7 for 1890, 22.9 
for 1900. The percentage for the United States was 20 for 
1870 and 10.7 in 1900. For the North Atlantic Division it had 



8 Compulsory Education and the Southern States 

decreased from 7.6 in 1870 to 5.9 in 1900. North Central 9.3 
to 4.2, Western 15 to 6.3. In percentage of illiteracy the South, 
despite, the reductions made, is still in point of literacy behind 
all the other sections of the Union, and far behind such countries 
of Europe as the German Empire, Switzerland, Scotland, Neth- 
erlands, England, France, Belgium, Ireland. Only Austria, Hun- 
gary, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Russia, Servia, and Rou- 
mania, of European countries, make a worse showing. 

It is fair, of course, to exclude the negro population and con- 
sider only the white population, which in the South is almost 
entirely native born. It is conceded that the whites of the 
South constitute a pure branch of the Anglo-Saxon root. They 
trace their lineage directly to the early English, Scotch-Irish and 
German. 

In 1870, the percentage of white illiterates ten years and over 
in the United States was 11. 5 ; in 1880, 9.4; in 1890, 7.7; in 1900, 
6.2. In 1870, the percentage in the South Atlantic States was 
23.5; in 1880, 19.5; in 1890, 14.5; in 1900, 11. 5. In 1870, the 
percentage in the South Central States, in which group Tennes- 
see is included, was 23.4 per cent; in 1880, 21.6; in 1890, 15.3; 
and 1900, 1 1.8 per cent. 

In Tennessee the percentage in 1870 was 26.9 per cent, or 3.5 
more than the average for this division, and in 1900 the percent- 
age was 14. 1 or 2.3 per cent more than the average. In actual 
number of illiterates, we had of whites ten years of age and over 
178,727, and in 1900, 159,086. But of those of voting age the 
number had actually increased, 3JJ73 in 1870, 52,418 in IQOO. 
The total white males over ten years of age among the illiter- 
ates in this State is 77,275, females 81,811. 

As to age periods, ten to fourteen years,- the illiterate white 
males are 12,446; illiterate white females, 9,027; fifteen to 
twenty years, males, 12,411; females, 8,482; twenty-one years 
and over, males, 52,418; females, 64,302. "Mere Man" is evi- 
dently not in this generation appreciating the school advantages 
offered as formerly. The women are crowding the schools. 
The men will do the voting, but they are not equipping them- 
selves for the elective franchise. 

Of the native white population, only four States of the Union 



Compulsory Education and the Southern States 9 

in 1900 had a larger illiteracy than our own, those being Ala- 
bama, Louisiana, North Carolina and New Mexico. While the 
native white population showed a percentage of 14.2 illiterates, 
the foreign white showed a percentage of 9.7. 

As to the education of the negro, Tennessee ranked 34 out of 50 
with a percentage of illiteracy in the colored population of 41.6. 
Several Southern States make an excellent showing as to the 
native white illiteracy. Oklahoma's percentage was only 2.5 
percent; Maryland, 4.1 percent; Missouri, 4.8 percent; Texas, 
6.1 per cent; Mississippi, 8 per cent; Florida, 8.6 per cent. 
Eliminating the foreign population of Texas, there are only 
about 95,000 illiterates, or about 4^ per cent. 

While not affecting the South materially, except in Louisiana 
and Texas — where the foreign population is considerable, and 
very illiterate — the general question of compulsory education, of 
course, involves the foreign immigrant and his children, and 
this consideration has no doubt hastened the adoption of com- 
pulsory laws in the States of other sections. 

The percentage of illiterates ten years and over among the 
foreign population in the United States in 1900 was 12.9. In 
the North Atlantic Division, it was 15.9; the South Atlantic 
Division, 12-.9; the South Central, 22.8; the North Central Divi- 
sion, 9.4; and the Western Division, 8.5 per cent. The Eastern 
States with the largest percentage of illiterates among the for- 
eign population were: Maine, 19.4; New Hampshire, 20.5; Ver- 
mont, 21.4; Massachusetts, 14.6. The largest numbers of illiter- 
ate foreigners in any States were in New York, with 258,423, and 
Pennsylvania, with 191,706. Our system of education is raising 
them up, as shown by the fact that the percentage of illiteracy 
among foreign born whites is n. 5, and among native whites of 
foreign parents, 2. 

In cities of 25,000 and upward in the United States, the per- 
centage of illiteracy among the voting population in 1900 was 
only 4.5 per cent. In the cities of the North Atlantic Division 
it was 5.8 per cent; in the South Atlantic Division, 3 per cent; 
in the South Central Division, 3.4 per cent; in the North Cen- 
tral Division, 3.3 per cent; and in the Western Division, 1.7 
per cent. It will be seen that in this classification Southern 



10 Compulsory Education and the Southern States 

cities make a good comparative showing. The percentage of 
white illiteracy in the voting population of Tennessee in the 
cities of 25,000 and over, including Memphis, Nashville, Knox- 
ville and Chattanooga, was only 3 per cent. The percentage of 
negro illiterates under the same classification was 35.9 per cent. 
The cities of the East, especially of New England, have suffered 
in educational excellence by reason of the influx of foreign 
population. 

The greatest illiteracy in cities outside the South is among 
foreign born whites. This, in 1900, in cities of over 25,000 for 
those of voting age was 9.8 per cent. The influence of the good 
educational systems of such cities is shown in the fact that the 
percentage of illiteracy for native whites of foreign parentage is 
about the same as for native whites of native parentage, and less 
than 2 per cent among those of voting age in such cities. 

The percentage of illiteracy among the white males in the 
North Atlantic Division in 1840 was 2.3 per cent only; in 1900, 
this had increased to 6.6 per cent. In 1840, the percentage 
among the white males of voting age in the South Atlantic 
States was 13.4 per cent, and in the South Central States, 12.7; 
these, by 1870, had increased to 15 and 15.4 per cent, respec- 
tively. They are now (1900), 11. 5 and 11.6, respectively. That 
of the United States as a whole, is 5.9. 

A more intensive examination of one State, and a community 
and section of that State, may illustrate what we have to deal 
with in the problem of ignorance. 

Knox County, Tennessee, the writer's home, has an illiterate 
population among the native whites of voting age of about 14 
per cent. The following East Tennessee counties, some of them 
adjoining Knox, have percentages of more than 20: Meigs, 20.8; 
Bledsoe, 2 1.1 ; Polk, 2 1.1 ; Campbell, 21.2; Marion, 21.5 ; Union, 
21.6; Scott, 21.5; Anderson, 22.4; Morgan, 22.4; Sevier, 22.7; 
Monroe, 22.8; Hancock, 23.2; Grainger, 23.4; Unicoi, 24.2; 
Cocke, 24.6; Hawkins, 25.4; Claiborne, 25.6; Johnson, 26.9; 
Carter, 27.6. Twenty out of the thirty-three counties of East 
Tennessee have thus in the male whites able to vote over 20 per 
cent illiterate — an aggregate of 13,450. I have not the figures 
at hand, but if a county like Knox, with the best schools, has 



Compulsory Education aud the Southern States 1 1 

14 per cent of such illiterate population, certainly the other 
thirteen counties would show averages from 14 to 20 per cent, 
and swell the aggregate of illiterate voters in this grand divi- 
sion of the State to over 20,000. Certainly the problem of edu- 
cation is not of distant lands. 

Do not understand me to assert that this mass of illiterate 
voters is not in many ways educated. They are shrewd, ob- 
servant people. They are industrious and thrifty. Their in- 
telligence in many respects is large. Yet, unequipped with 
ability to read and write, deprived of the illumination of the 
written word, out of touch with the progress of the world, what 
a tremendous obstacle must they overcome in the struggle 
for life! Consider what the economic, political and social 
upilft of a State would be if this population were by read- 
ing able to improve itself. In 1906, a candidate for Governor of 
Tennessee on an illiteracy platform, and receiving the united 
support of all the illiterates, would not have been the third man 
in the contest. 

The fault in our school system seems to lie not only in the 
failure to secure the enrollment of the child, but more especially 
in the failure to secure his attendance after enrollment. Of the 
scholastic population in Tennessee, with which State the writer 
is more familiar, which in 1905 was 762,894, there were 507,000 
enrolled, 537,000 including private schools, but the average 
attendance in public schools was only 348,000. When we re- 
member that the average school year in Tennessee is only 116 
days, and consider that less than half the school children are in 
school even half that short period during the year, we may appre- 
ciate why the condition is staggering. On its face the enroll- 
ment is creditable, but the irregular attendance and short terms 
of school make it impossible to cope with the mountain of igno- 
rance, which to cut down needs heroic efforts. 

If Germany, with less than one half of one per cent of popu- 
lation illiterate, requires a ten months' school course for all 
pupils from six to fourteen years of age, how will Tennessee ever 
reduce its illiteracy to the same degree with a 116-day course, 
and one-half the pupils in school? It has been asked, "If 242,- 
498 children were not enrolled in the public schools in 1895, and 



1 2 Compulsory Education and the Southern States 

265,471 were not enrolled in the public schools in 1905, how long 
will it be until all who are eligible are enrolled?" and "If 382,- 
293 were not in average attendance in 1895 and 424,206 were not 
in average daily attendance ten years later, and the per cent of 
such attendance is now 68.7, how long until the per cent of aver- 
age daily attendance begins to show an increase?" And, it may 
also be asked "If there were more illiterate voters in 1900 than 
in 1870, when will there be none?" 

The campaign for education in the South has accomplished 
much. Tennessee, for example, is spending nearly $3,400,000 a 
year on its public schools. This is not quite $5 per capita of 
scholastic population, but it is a considerable increase. Yet 
many States spend $15 to $20 per capita. 

In general, it may be said that the school terms have been 
lengthened, the teachers paid better salaries, better buildings 
and equipment furnished. But does this suffice? Are not even 
more heroic remedies needed for a condition manifestly so 
dangerous? At present there is an average of only thirty-six 
pupils in the schools to one teacher, in Tennessee. At least 
50,000 more pupils could be instructed by the teaching force. 
It is argued that we must have more schoolhouses first. But 
we had no public schoolhouses before the public school system 
was established. Let the pupils trudge to school, and accom- 
modations will be made for them. 

The matter of the present bad attendance is shown in the 
reports for Knox County and Knoxville. The scholastic popula- 
tion of Knox County for the year 1905-06 was 28,204. Of this 
number, 10,682 belonged to the City of Knoxville, and 17,522 to 
the rural districts. The enrollment for the city was 5,833 and 
for the rural districts 12,225. It W1 U thus be seen that the per- 
centage of enrollment was 54.6 in the city, and 70 per cent out- 
side the city. The average attendance of all the scholastic 
population was 43 per cent in the city and 42 per cent in the 
country districts. Those figures enable us to point to the sore 
spot. The schools in the city kept 179 days, and those in the 
country 157 days. The enrollment was good, but owing to lax 
interest of parents, only forty-three out of every hundred chil- 
dren of school age in the city attended, and less in the country. 



Compulsory Education and the Southern States 1 3 

To show how the attendance drops off year by year, take the 
Knoxville schools by grades. In the First grade there were 1,797 
pupils; Second, 775; Third, 811; Fourth, 694; Fifth, 504; 
Sixth, 461; Seventh, 291; Eighth, 261 ; Ninth, 150; Tenth, 89. 
Look at the little army of nearly 1,800 diminishing to one-seventh 
its number before the high school is reached. How many reach 
the University ? How many any technical school ? Less than 
5 per cent of our boys and girls acquire an education which we 
would consider average "common school." In Germany, or 
under any efficient compulsory educational system, the full 
course to the high school at least would be required. 

I have been unable to secure statistics on the proportion of 
our population with a very meagre education, but these figures 
would indicate how little average schooling was being received. 
It is, of course, better for the child to secure even two or three 
years' rudimentary training than none at all, but certainly it is 
a wrong for the State to allow the unworthy parent to permit the 
child to leave school with such a small equipment for life's 
battle. 

How little, comparatively, we spend on education, despite our 
great advance of late, may be gathered from the fact that if the 
average teacher in Tennessee worked the average number of days 
at the average salary he would earn only $158.40 a year, and yet 
we are ahead of several other States. Considering the remuner- 
ation, it is truly astonishing that so many devoted and pains- 
taking teachers are obtained for the work, but of course on the 
average the instruction must be inefficient, and few men at- 
tracted to the work. 

I am free to admit that while compulsory education is an ideal 
condition difficult to be realized, and that a further development 
of public sentiment in favor of universal education must precede 
it, just as every reform, moral, political or financial, must come 
as a result of general conviction ; nevertheless, with the mass of 
ignorance to be coped with in the South, our efforts seem futile 
unless we arouse the States to such an extent that by a mighty 
effort, under a compulsory system, supported by the intelligent 
people of the South, the illiterate population not of an age 
beyond the reach of the schools is brought under instruction. 



14 Compulsory Education and the Southern States 

In some quarters, where there is a large negro population, the 
cost of compulsory education is urged as an objection. But it 
would seem that as the negro is to be here, he ought to have the 
right sort of training. It is probable that results up to this time 
have not repaid the amounts spent, but this is no doubt due to 
the nature of the education. The negro child, as does the white 
child, needs not only the technical instruction in letters, but 
more, he needs the discipline and character-forming influences of 
the schools. In my opinion, the greatest mistake ever made by 
the South was when it turned the instruction of the negro in 
churches and in schools over to his own race. The race is in 
the position of the man trying to raise himself by his own boot- 
straps. If by means of compulsory education the Southern 
white man could regain control of the instruction of the negro, 
the opportunity would be cheap at the price. 

It is true the South could not fairly be expected to expend as 
much as other sections on schools. Its per capita wealth is not 
nearly equal to that of other sections. The South's progress for 
the past twenty years has been exceedingly rapid, but even yet, 
in some regions of the South, the wealth is not as large as that 
previous to i860. To understand the relative financial ability of 
the South as compared with other sections, the following will 
aid: In i860, the average per capita taxable wealth of the 
United States was $514. This had increased to $1,314 in 1904. 
The per capita wealth of New England had increased from $594 
to $1,498. Of the other North Atlantic States, from $500 to 
$1,763. The per capita of the South Atlantic States in i860 
was $509. In 1904, it was $716. The Southern South Atlantic 
States, however, consisting of North Carolina, South Carolina, 
Georgia and Florida, had decreased from $562 in i860 to $474 
in 1904. In 1870, the per capita wealth in those States was 
only $278. The South Central States had a per capita wealth 
in i860 of $598, and in 1904 of $659. Tennessee's per capita 
wealth in i860 was $445, and in 1904, $520. The Western 
Division now has a per capita wealth of $2,228, and the Pacific of 
$2,290; being the richest regions in the United States per capita. 

The South, it must be remembered in considering these 
figures, has about one-third of its population negro, and if the 



Compulsory Education and the Southern States 1 5 

per capita wealth of the whites alone were taken, it would make 
a somewhat better showing compared with other sections. In 
the problem of education, however, the children of all the popu- 
lation must be trained. The whites, with the bulk of the wealth, 
have submitted to taxation to pay for the education of white and 
black children. It is estimated that the whites have spent over 
three hundred million dollars for the common school education 
of the colored children, with little return from taxes on negro's 
property. The inability of the South as easily to spare as much 
money per capita for education as in the North is very apparent, 
but inasmuch as the need here is so much greater, therefore the 
question presents a different aspect here. Shotdd expenditures 
for education be based on proportionate ivealth or on proportionate 
need? 

Indeed, these figures of per capita wealth, while they do offer 
some excuse against heavy taxes for schools, also ought to sug- 
gest a more important deduction. Let us ask ourselves, If the 
South had had universal education since 1870, would not the 
great losses caused by the Civil War have been the sooner 
repaired, and would not our section, in the wealth of its people, 
now stand a better comparison with other sections? Those 
figures showed that in i860, the per capita wealth of the South 
was about equal to that of other sections. An immense amount 
of property was destroyed during the Civil War in the South. 
In 1870, the per capita wealth was not quite half what it was in 
i860. The percentage of illiteracy in that year was also very 
great. If the people of the South could have been gifted with 
prophecy as to the burdening effect of ignorance, it would no 
doubt since that time have spent twice as much, or more, for 
schools than they have done. 

Since 1880 the effects of the loss during the Civil War have 
not been so evident in the South, and the progress of this sec- 
tion has been fast. But even during that period of two decades 
in actual increase of wealth we have not made as great advance 
as other sections. It is somewhat humiliating to examine the 
"graphics," displayed in the census reports showing the wealth 
of various States of the Union. How far behind are we may 
there be seen at a glance. The average capital of the Eastern 



1 6 Compulsory Education and the Southern States 

States is at least ten times per State the capital invested in the 
Southern States. 

Our Southern people have great pride of race and of history, 
and are strengthened thereby. Those are pardonable prides. 
They also, due to criticism, are sensitive. They do not like to 
look conditions in the face. They have not reached the point 
where they can with equanimity analyze their own conditions. 
Too small a proportion, owing to comparative poverty, have 
travelled in other sections. They do not realize our needs in an 
educational way. It is to be expected that the illiterate and 
ignorant have no conception of this need. But many who know 
better, also are indifferent. It is a lethargy which grows out of 
a long-continued condition, one that needs superhuman exertions 
to overcome. The task is great. But even though the South is 
still behind, the wealth is certainly sufficient for educational 
needs. The value of property in Tennessee increased from 
$498,000,000 in 1870 to $1,400,000,000 in 1900. The day when 
any State of the South was unable to tax itself for schools for 
both races to accomodate all the scholastic population has passed. 
With a per capita wealth of $620 Tennessee ought to spend more 
than $1.50 per capita on its schools. In Germany the tremen- 
dous stimulus of general education has caused that country to 
forge ahead of other European nations, whose natural resources 
are greater than Germany's. To overcome the advantage of 
wealth which the. North and West possess over the South, no 
policy would be complete without the institution of a more gen- 
eral, and more thorough system of education of the masses, as 
the first requisite. To secure such general instruction neces- 
sarily compulsion must be considered. 

Argument is made that compulsory education is monarchical. 
It can hardly be called so, since it had its origin in this country. 
A second argument has been advanced against it that it enlarges 
the powers of government. Even if the American precedent 
could not be quoted, the right to compel attendance at school 
might, in a republic, be defended under the general head of self- 
protection, along with quarantine and hygienic regulations. It 
has also been urged that it interferes with the liberty of parents. 
No more than laws punishing the parent for the abuses of the 



Compulsory Education and the Southern States 1 7 

child, or for depriving it of necessaries which he is able to pre- 
pare for it. In compelling the parent to send the child to school, 
the State does no more than to secure to the child his right. 
Often the objection is heard that it deprives the parent of the 
labor of a child, and that in some cases the parent cannot afford 
this, or give the child decent clothes or pay for school books. 
This, in nearly all communities where compulsory education 
prevails, is looked after by the State. The community can much 
better afford to pay for clothing and books than let the child 
grow up in ignorance. 

Strong pleas may be made for compulsory educational laws 
on the following grounds: The State taxes all classes for the 
support of the public schools, whether they have children to send 
or not. The State owes it to these taxpayers to see that the 
taxes collected shall be used for the purpose for which they are 
levied. This is impossible unless it compels the attendance of 
all children at school. The taxpayer then, has a right to insist 
on a general law, on the ground that it is necessary in order to 
enable the State to perform its duty to him But, it may as 
well be admitted, that something more than the passage of a com- 
pulsory educational law is necessary to secure general education. 
In several countries, and in some of our States, such laws have 
not proved more effective than voluntary education. Certainly 
it is essential that by a system of factory laws the opportunity 
of the child to attend schools must be made, and in addition 
there must be such a general desire for education and pride in 
its possession in the community as to induce a general acquies- 
cence and co-operation in the enforcement of the law. In addi- 
tion, the schools themselves must offer the best advantages. 
Prussia, the classic land of compulsion, provides in its school 
laws for an abundance of school-rooms, well equipped school- 
houses, and a high grade of teachers, and her compulsory system 
is successful. In Turkey, Greece, and Portugal, where these 
essentials and the education-loving population is lacking, the 
laws are not so successful. As a general statement, however, in 
the countries where compulsory education has been adopted and 
enforced, general education has been secured, illiteracy reduced 
and the stimulus to all sorts of educational work great. As we 



1 8 Compulsory Education and the Southern States 

have seen, the progress of Germany has seemed to be due more 
largely to its elementary schools than any other one factor. In 
this country, New England first of all the sections provided for 
general education of its youth, and that region's wealth and 
influence on the country, considering its meagre resources and 
trying climate, has been attributed largely to this educational 
habit of its people. 

Now, a word in conclusion: There are two very strong argu- 
ments for such a system which especially appeal to me. The 
first of these is on the higher ground that the State owes to the 
child an opportunity. It is a day of altruism. Temperance legis- 
lation is, in a sense, an infringement on personal liberty, yet the 
movement spreads. First, because it is felt that the community 
has a right to protection against the nuisance and danger of the 
intemperate; and second, because the State ought to protect the 
man with such inclinations against himself. If the intemperate 
man is dangerous, a breeder of poverty, vice and crime, so is 
the ignorant man. The State must be protected against the 
dragging down influence of the ignorant. Statistics show that 
the ignorant commit many more crimes in proportion to their 
numbers than the intelligent. Many more such are dependents. 
It is a burden on the State to prosecute crime and to maintain 
jails and almshouses. Their vice and idleness weaken the com- 
munity in which they live. A parent who permits a child to 
grow up in ignorance is committing an offense not only against 
the child, but against the State. 

Every consideration of the welfare of society, of good govern- 
ment, of the advancement of civilization, demands general ele- 
mentary education, and as a corollary, more general higher edu- 
cation. But there will never be any material growth in educa- 
tional progress until the root of the system is nourished. 

With universal elementary education, the higher institutions 
will more largely flourish, and an intelligent society develop the 
technical needs which require schools of instruction in the mul- 
tifarious industries and commercial interests, which form the 
economic life of an enlightened community. The economic 
value of education will appeal to some even more than the mat- 
ter of duty to the child and to society. The wealth produced by 



Compulsory Education and the Southern States 19 

a community composed largely of illiterate or barely literate 
people is manifestly small compared with that of the same num- 
ber of well educated, and technically trained people. Experi- 
ence has shown that, while some ignorant men win success, the 
mass sinks into the ranks of those who do not know from whence 
the next day's bread is coming. Countries with the highest 
average of education are certainly marked for the greatest 
progress to-day. Great as it is, our own growth in wealth does 
not nearly equal theirs. The economic progress of the South, 
the development of its splendid mineral and agricultural re- 
sources depends more than all else on general education of its 
people, and I do not exclude the negro population, though their 
education should be of a different character, as suited to a race 
which can for centuries do only the simpler labor of our section. 
Education must be not only such as to remove the stigma of 
illiteracy, but it must be adapted to promote the greatest 
efficiency of each race. Only one acre of ten of cotton lands in 
the South is cultivated to produce a billion dollar crop. Not one 
hundredth proportion of our mineral lands is exploited. We 
do not manufacture anything like what we consume of manu- 
factured goods. 

I have cited the conditions. I have pride in what has been 
done, but I would not, out of pride, endeavor to deny that we 
need tenfold more zeal in application to the educational problem 
in order to break down the barrier of illiteracy and the igno- 
rance which exists. 

As I have said, I do not know that compulsory education is 
immediately practicable, but I firmly believe that it ought to be 
the end to which we shall work during the next few years, and 
when some Horace Mann or Thomas Jefferson arouses the peo- 
ple of our own and other Southern States to their duty, there 
need be no longer any doubt of the future of the South. 



LIBRHKT yjf i.uwji\toj 



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021 331 880 9 



